Maintaining functional relationships at work
THIS week, I spent two days training senior managers in Media Prima Bhd, the parent company of this publication. It was especially nice for me, as a few leaders from the New Straits Times attended my programme.
It was really good to connect with the people I have a functional relationship with.
At work, everyone has functional relationships with others. This means you will have a connection with someone at your workplace that requires both of you to fulfil agreed and fixed obligations to each other.
Only when you do this are you able to deliver on your key performance indicators.
Sometimes, these exchanges are just transactional. This is when you simply cooperate as a means to an end. If you are collaborative in these transactional interfaces, you will both walk away feeling good.
There also connections at work that are relational. Relational interactions happen when you have meaningful engagements that build on, and maintain, that relationship.
If you have relational connections with your colleagues, you will not only care about the outcomes, but you also care about your colleagues.
Naturally, this requires you to pay attention to the process and quality of how you are both communicating, and not just interacting as a means to an end.
Most of you spend more of your waking hours with your co-workers than you do with your spouses or families. Therefore, it is vital that you build solid relationships with your work-mates.
One of the biggest threats to achieving results at work is when your work environment is filled with toxic people.
Colleagues who are toxic thrive with a negative attitude, and will create a damaging work atmosphere. They judge people and situations to suit their needs, and in every narrative, they will paint themselves as the victim.
Building strong relationships will help you withstand the onslaught of the occasional toxicity that occurs in nearly all companies.
One of the highest value tasks for all leaders is to develop a supportive setting that helps their team members build collaborative relationships.
If you have people who are barely on speaking terms, and you put them together into a project, it will take some time for them to recalibrate and begin to work in partnership.
On the other hand, team members who already know, like and respect each other are always more willing to collaborate for the betterment of any project.
As you spend so much time at work with each other, the development of good relationships will only serve to increase your work morale.
If you look forward to spending time with your colleagues, you will produce a different set of results to when you dread working with a teammate.
Your relationships with others will determine if you have fun at work, which is a prerequisite for high morale. This is just not possible in a stiff and unfriendly workplace.
When you feel connected to your company, it is only because of a few reasons. The first is perhaps that you share the same vision as your leaders.
Alternatively, it is because you feel a family-like connection with your co-workers. This connectivity means that you won’t be leaving the company in a rush.
Connected relationships offer higher retention rates, which is necessary for sustainable growth.
From a profitability standpoint, logic dictates that happy employees are more productive.
For those of you in leadership roles, ensuring that you focus on building connected relationships with your teams, and helping them do the same with each other must be high on your to-do-list.
You can do this by fostering a positive workplace.
First, create a strong mission statement and a buoyant teambased environment.
Next, strengthen workplace relationships by setting clear expectations, and practising constant communication.
Finally, offer well-timed responses to both positive workplace behaviour and deal fairly with employee concerns.
Building connected relationships will provide all the necessary resources to ensure that you get your job done, and become more effective.
You will enjoy greater satisfaction at work, and so will those around you.
Building connected relationships will provide all the necessary resources to ensure that you get your job done, and become more effective.
The writer is managing consultant and executive leadership coach at EQTD Consulting. He is also the author of the national bestseller ‘So, You Want To Get Promoted?’